Whanganui District Council chief executive David Langford has developed a business plan to deliver results to the community over the next term.
Photo / Bevan Conley
Whanganui District Council chief executive David Langford has developed a business plan to deliver results to the community over the next term.
Photo / Bevan Conley
Whanganui District Council's executive leadership team has been reduced from eight positions to five - with two redundancies and one vacancy not being filled.
In announcing the restructure, chief executive David Langford said chief operating officer Lance Kennedy will become deputy chief executive, responsible for water assets as well asoversight of strategy, planning, democracy, community development, district planning, civil defence and council-controlled organisations.
The other four roles are held by people and performance manager Catherine Dutton, community and customer experience manager Marianne Cavanagh, chief financial officer Mike Fermor, and property and open spaces general manager Sarah O'Hagan.
"The plan is relatively simple and the aim is to establish a leaner, more agile organisation in preparation for the next term with a new council," Langford said.
Since taking up his appointment in March this year, Langford said he had been in a six-month "discovery phase".
Langford said the local government sector is heading into a period of disruption and uncertainty because of the reforms programme being implemented by central government and the council will need to be "nimble and adaptive" to respond to change.
He said while restructuring was always difficult for the staff involved, the changes were intended to benefit the community by allowing budget and resources to be redeployed towards front-line service delivery.
"The feedback we have been receiving tells us that people want their service requests addressed in a more timely and efficient manner," Langford said.
Chief executive David Langford said budget and resources would be deployed for improved frontline services.
Photo / Bevan Conley
"By deploying more of our budget to the frontline, we can improve performance in that area."
In a report to the council, Langford said an overview of customer service requests for the three-month period from May 1 to July 31 found the council had responded to 4644 requests for service from the community.
Of those 134, or 2.9 per cent, were recorded as being outstanding past the target response date.
The council received a total of 29 official complaints and 11 compliments during the three months.
Langford said the report showed a marked improvement on previous months, which could be attributed to a renewed management focus and training for staff.
Review of services
Langford also looked at the council's Leading Edge Strategy, which was introduced in 2014.
An independent review praised the strategy and recognised it as a strength but noted that the council had other strategies, many of which "have struggled to be translated into action".
Langford said the Leading Edge Strategy pre-dated the Te Awa Tupua Act and as such, it was time to review and replace it and consolidate the other strategies.
"Ideally, this process will have a strong community-led focus and be a joint project delivered by the council, iwi and hapū, and other key community groups and organisations."
There would also be a focus on translating strategies into action.
Recruiting and retaining a strong local workforce was another aim for the council over the next term, Langford said.
"We want to grow our own and look at partnering with the Ministry of Social Development, UCOL, and other training providers to increase the skilled workforce we need," Langford said.
"And that is not just for council staff. We want to encourage our partners and contractors to do the same."
Langford said a number of council contracts had received only one tender and that had prompted a review of the council's procurement and contract management practices.
"The review aims to identify opportunities for the council to adopt a supply chain leadership ethos in order to be viewed by the market as a desirable client.
"There could be opportunities to use the council's capital expenditure to stimulate local economic activity, job creation, workforce training, and development opportunities."
Strengthening community, iwi and hapū partnerships, building digital capabilities, and improving non-digital communications are other identified aims.
"It's about building and strengthening capabilities so that we only have to do things once and get them right first time," Langford said.
